Record number of bidders attended Ritchie Bros 20th year anniversary auction in Dubai

Heavy equipment auctioneer Ritchie Bros recently celebrated its 20th year anniversary in Dubai during a two-day auction on December 13 and 14, at its site in the Jebel Ali Freezone. The auction featured over 1,600 equipment items and trucks, including excavators, wheel loaders, dozers, trucks and mobile cranes. Eduard Faig, Regional Sales Manager Middle East, Africa & Asia Subcontinent-India, said, “We were pleased to see a record number of people join our 20th year anniversary auction in Dubai and actively place bids in person and live over the internet. Across the board, bidder activity was strong and showed a positive trend in selling prices. The GCC region was well represented among winning and runner-up bidders, leaving an upbeat impression of the market at the end of the year.”

Auction facts

Number of bidders: 960+ (54 per cent onsite, 46 per cent online)

Forty-eight per cent of bidders from UAE, 52 per cent from outside the UAE

Bidder countries: 71

Number of buyers: 370+

Sixty-five per cent of buyers from the UAE, 35 per cent from outside the UAE

Number of lots sold: 1,590 (25 per cent sold to online bidders)

Number of sellers: 260+

Highlights of the auction

A 2014 Sany SAC2200F 220-tonne 10 x 8 x 10 all-terrain crane that sold for US$ 560,000 to a bidder from Kuwait.

A 2008 Manitowoc 14000 crawler crane that sold for US$ 517,500 to a bidder from Saudi Arabia.

A 2010 Caterpillar D8R crawler tractor that sold for US$ 152,500 to a bidder from UAE.

Ritchie Bros’ first Dubai auction was held in 1997. Since then, the company has held 73 auctions in Dubai (including the December 2016 auction), selling over 120,000 lots and registering more than 40,000 bidders. Faig shared, “At the first auctions in Dubai, bidders were seated in a huge tent and everyone joined in person as we didn’t have online bidding yet. Now we run our operation in a comfortable auction theater, with a full-service equipment yard and have a lot more to offer to our customers. Through the years, more bidders from more countries outside the region found their way to our Dubai auctions, either in person or online, making it a powerful auction hub. Every year, businesses from all over the Middle East, Asia and further away rely on us to sell and buy the equipment they need.”